Parkinson’s Principle

The principle I’m going to share today may not be earth-shattering for you, but it has proven useful for me in my work time and time again. This principle, also called “Parkinson’s Principle” (named for a person; it has no connection to the disease), states that people will expand or contract their work to fill their time. For example, if you give a person five tasks to complete and eight hours to complete them, they will likely take the full eight hours, even if they could take only six hours to complete the same tasks to the same standard.

This has happened in my office recently. I had one of my staff come to me and say something along the lines of, “I’ve been working here for a year, and I’m wondering if I could get a raise.” My reply was that I do raises based on merit, not on time, so we set out to see where she was at so that we could help her get a raise. This girl “runs comps” (a phrase we use in our office to describe the process of entering the comps into the grid after the appraiser has chosen them), and in my office our goal is to have each comp take about one minute. When we timed her, she averaged at about one or one and a half minutes per comp. We talked about it and now she’s working to hit one minute per comp. I guarantee that she’ll be consistently reaching her goal here soon.

Consider the work and tasks that you’re doing each day, whether in the office or at home. Consider your inspections. Even subconscious time expectations will affect how long you take to complete a given task. Using this principle to your advantage will hep you use your time even more effectively, as you strive to become more productive and successful in your life.

For more information on this subject, please download and listen to The Appraiser Coach Podcast Episode: 656

 

32 thoughts on “Parkinson’s Principle”

  1. If you rush you make mistake giving a minute to rush to find a comp, we are not pizza delivery although we have to drive to different addresses for no reason. Take your time and do a good job or artificial intelligence will take your job.

  2. I thought the same thing as Dave- take your time and do it right the first time, saves time in the long run. On a difficult rural or man. home, it takes a long time to figure comps. If you are in a cookie cutter subdivision- take a minute.

    1. I disagree tacomac. If I get an assignment in the heart of San Diego its not unusual for my original greater search to pull over 75 sales. Working through to determine true comps from a general sale can and often is very time consuming. Selecting 3, and defending against why I didn’t use the other 72 can at times be exhausting. At times, I would prefer to work rural San Diego County where I might have 10 sales within a year all within 10 miles where one can work through all 10.

      Seek the truth.

  3. So let me get this straight, office staff of less than a year are picking your comps with the standard being 60 seconds and raises being dependent on doing it in less than a minute. At no point in time does the following ring more true, “Putting profits before principles”.

    Why is the signing appraiser not personally working through the sales data to determine potential comps? If entry level staff are defining the neighborhood, defining the search criteria, selecting protentional sales, and most importantly vetting info to determine comps, what is the appraiser doing? If the appraiser is simply doing a cursory review (in years past you said it could be 30 minutes) after the fact, then you and your team have failed the profession.

    On a side note, if your office staff has only a minute to select a comp, how many minutes does True Footage give their property inspectors to inspect an entire property?

    Seek the truth people and stop putting profits before principles.

    1. Appraiser Observer

      Parkinson’s Principle in practice… Bill Johnson goes and yells at kids to get off your lawn then fills his remaining day replying to comments on Dustin’s blog. Do you need a friend Bill? A therapist?

      1. Shoot me the messenger and ignore what others are saying about Dustin’s post all you want Appraiser Observer, but the truth doesn’t lie. Dustin is putting Profits before Principles.

        Seek the truth.

        1. Appraisal Observer

          Fact is I don’t care if he’s a sellout or cutting corners. We’re all adults and can make up our own mind about him.

          You’re a crusader so I know you can’t help yourself. Your tunnel vision is as humorous as it is sad.

          1. Relating to this blog, and the practice / teaching of churning out comps in a matter of seconds (if you want a raise) it would seem the adults on this site have made up their minds.

            Your driving solo on this one Appraisal Observer, but good luck with your delusions and thanks for noticing my tunnel vision related to exposing those that seek profits over principles.

            Seek the truth.

    2. Dustin Harris

      Every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Edit to OP has been made.

  4. Comp searches should be done for accuracy not a race against the stop watch. When I rush to get comps prior to an inspection, 9 times out of 10, I wind up going back to find better comps because pre-inspection information was limited or totally inaccurate (one reason I won’t do desktop appraisals)..

    1. Yes Bev. One should vet the sale to determine if its a comp by way of looking through any and all past and current MLS listings (including doing a rental search), looking through public record files, looking through A la modes peer review, looking through Zillow (owners often update there own properties) and into ones own appraisal files, etc. Only after significant info is gathered can it then be compared against itself. Meaning, just a single variance of info should be investigated (building records search, agent interviews, etc.) to determine what is the truth.

      The idea that a person working for Dustin is rewarded for selecting the final 3 sales in less than 3 minutes should be a wake up call to what I’ve been telling people here for over 6 years.

      Seek the truth.

    2. Dustin Harris

      Every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Edit to OP has been made.

  5. totally agree with the other comments. maybe teach her what to look for in different situations/properties. i disagree with that incentive approach!!

    1. Who said their reading it David? And you wonder why I’ve been telling Dustin and others here to stop putting profits before principles and to seek the truth for over 6 years. The sad but funny thing is, is that Dustin actually believes his own garbage and is oblivious to things like having someone pull a comp in under a minute, the churn and burn of 4 to 9 appraisals a day, 30 minute reviews, never had a raise in 20 years, etc.

      Seek the truth

    2. Dustin Harris

      Every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Edit to OP has been made.

  6. I do understand the Parkinson’s Principle and have seen it at work in my office. When someone has an easy day, yet that person still ends up working the entire day on the task. It’s so important to manage time and constantly consider what is taking time.

    With that said, I don’t know what “runs comps” means. I’m guessing that’s searching for and selecting comparable sales. If so, there is nothing more important than sales selection to making sure the appraisal is accurate. Sales selection is more important than the actual adjustments made. You can make the wrong adjustments and still get the value right with thoughtful reconciliation, but with poor comparable sales selection you cannot come to the right conclusion. We use office staff to help our appraisers, but selecting comparable sales and doing it fast is counter, IMO, to an accurate appraisal and one that the appraiser can sign off on.

    1. Dustin Harris

      Thanks for your understanding, Gary. As you guessed, every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Edit to OP has been made.

  7. I’m with Bill here, I have been a field appraiser for 35 years, I don’t sit in an office and delegate anything. I sign my work. What kind of Professional, Certified, Residential Real Estate Appraiser delegates Comp selection and then puts a timer on a non appraiser?. No wonder Everyone thinks appraisers are a Joke. That’s ridiculous and wrong. Look for your own comps if you are a self respecting professional…

    1. Hell Cliff, if there is a comp I really need to use, and or explain why I’m not using it, it can take days and or week to gather all of the info for support. Think reaching out to the listing agent, the 2nd agent, the sellers agent, agents from prior MLS listings, the local building department, heck even going to the property and knocking on the door. The idea that Suzy and or Jim from from cubicles one or seven have under 60 seconds (if they want a raise) to see if its a comparable or just a sale in the area is borderline criminal in my opinion.

      Again, I will ask how much training are “Property Inspectors” getting when they apply and get approved to work for True Footage? Do they have 6 minutes to inspect the property? I don’t know, but something tells me they will get a promotion not for finding the adverse truths about a property, but rather will get rewarded ($) depending on many Neutrals and or Averages they select.

      Seek the truth.

    2. Dustin Harris

      Every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Edit to OP has been made.

  8. Marco Esquandolas

    Hey Bill, why don’t you go on Dustin’s podcast? You have negative things to say about him in nearly every blog but he says you wont show up in real life to have a civil discussion.

    No one wants to hear you complain on a blog anymore. Seek the truth.

  9. Jeff Nichols

    It’s hard to believe that an appraisal company is doing so much work that you would need a worker to limit their comp pulls to one minute. I have appraised homes for 20 years and my biggest problems have been due to not pulling the right comps. Taking more time, not less, was the solution.

    I agree with the writer that managing expectations and productivity is important. A better example would have been more useful.

    1. In the past Jeff, Dustin has said HE does something like 4 to 9 appraisals a day before receiving so much backlash that he changed his story. The message here has never been about putting the publics best interest first, but rather about how much of the work can be offloaded (sending work to the Philippines instead of hiring American, giving office staff less than a minute to pull a comp, etc.). In other words, put profits before principles.

      Seek the truth.

    2. Dustin Harris

      Every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Edit to OP has been made.

    1. ***STIPULATION / REVISION REQUEST***
      Brother from a different mother.

      Considering the overwhelming backlash from the commenters here, please provide me and the rest of us with additional guidance relating to who is right and who is wrong regarding Dustin’s requirement to pull a comp in under a minute to get a raise?

      You have 2 hours to provide me with written documentation and upon review of such documents it will be at the appraisers discretion if a change is valid. If no response it received, the appraiser will consider your request an error and no further action will be done.

      Seek the truth.

  10. Dustin Harris

    I guess I learned a lesson in semantics today. Every office has its own tribal language, and we do too. “Run comps” in our office environment means entering those comps already picked by the appraiser into the grid – not choosing comps (a process we call “pulling comps”) as it has been interpreted. Using a mixture of the tools in Total and manual input, it takes an average of 30-90 seconds to enter the information (minus the quality and condition – which the appraiser does) into the grid so the appraiser can begin the work of analysis. I edited the blog to avoid confusion in the future. My apologies.

    1. Thank you for clarifying. I too have made many errors and would like to retract everything I have said about you.

      Seek the truth.

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